A CASE OF "SPURLOS VERSENKT"

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 25, 24 October 1918, Page 8

A CASE OF "SPURLOS VERSENKT"

SURVIVORS RAMMED BY U-BOAT

SEAPLANES V. SUBMARINE-

(From "The Times" Special Correspondent.)

The German wireless communiques make the complaint that in printed narratives of vessels that are sunk the, countries of the Entente never mention the names of the ships or places where the sinkings take place, the inference b-inß of course, that the Germans don't do w'ch things. I will narrate .one case in which all the facts ran be thoroughly tested, and not one can be doubted. "On Jut 16 of this, year the Irene steamer tvmliane arrived off. the north const of Spain. She earned, in addition to her crew, a number of Senegalese and two passengers, one of whom was a woman of twenty-three. •«/*» * hat e ™»" in» without warning- and without anyone having seen the German submarmo. Z al torpedoed aft on the port side The engines were stopped.and everyone was ordered by the captain to toko to the boah Four persons were found to be missing-the telegraphist and thr.e RHimers, who were no doubt killed b) the explosion of the torpedo. There 'were' two whalers and a raft on boa d he Lyndiane. Before they could lie lowered a second torpedo struck the «hin forcinc No. 2 whaler to the f>ea utufu seating it. The raft was nex lowered and finally .No. 1 whaler, u v°Mch we'e the w man passenger and Uaptain Labpiie, who was-.the last to leave tho ship. \ Then the submarine broke surface, and, moving at about twelve kne, s, steee<l for and rammed No. 2 iWiaier, cut tin- her in halves. At first those in No l whaler and on the rait thought it i due to bad seamanship, ami they I! omptly went to .the help of their comrade* struggling in the water. Judge heir horror when the submarine turned and rammed No. 1 whaler Iho woman passenger was thrown into the air and probably killed on the spot; so Sifte captain. Then the, submarine turned and charged the debris of No. 1 whaler Next sho turned her attention to the raft, but, being constructed of iron cylinders, held together by spars, it swung round instead of breaking when tho submarine struck it. .. _ Engine-room Artificer OHict and Secofficer Lecain were amongst those on tin. aft and thinking that tho submarine had abandoned her intention of agin ch"r4« the latter, seeing, that the Lyndaino was still afloat, started swimming towards the vessel, Olhet was about to follow him when he enw tie ■subuwrine go ahead and cut up tho unfortunate Lecain in the pronellei-s. T e submarine then steamed to the L> ndiane and sank her by firing three shells at close quarters. • Sho then, turned and made another attempt to sink the raft, but only succeeded in damaging it. Uihet, mad with race, yelled at the submarine's crew, "Hooligans, assassins clumsy S! you cannot sink us!" The crew of tho submarine jeered in reply,, ami tho commander gave the order again to charge the raft. This time the raft was ■smashed, and leaving, the survivors in tho water the submarine disappeared m an easterly direction. ■ Tills scene of savagery bad lasted over two hours, and of tho sixteen peop e in the Lyndiano only a few were left struggling and-bruised in the sea Olhet secured two planks and linked them together by tearing up his trousers, and at 2 o'clock in the afternoon of July U was picked up by (lie Spanish destroyer Villanil. The other castaways on spars and such wreckage as they could secure were picked up, some by fishing smacks and others by the Spanish destroyer. In all, there were eight survivors. Here is a clear case of "Spnrlos versenkt founded on unimpeachable evidence.